Why is Spain creating a new department of public health?
The Spanish government is set to create a new State Centre for Public Health. But how is it different from what Spain’s Health Ministry already does and what will it be responsible for?
What’s new?
The Spanish Cabinet on Tuesday August 23rd will approve the creation of a State Centre for Public Health, or Centro Estatal de Salud Pública as it is called in Spanish.
Although the legislation will still have to be given the green light in the Spanish Parliament and Senate, €9 million has been preliminarily allocated for the formation of this new department, with its physical location yet to be determined.
What’s the purpose of this new public health centre?
The primary focus of this new centre will be to focus on, as its name suggests, Public Health.
The primary difference from what Spain’s Health Ministry already does is that it will have a preventative approach with regard to illness, aiming to improve the lifespan and wellbeing of Spanish society as a whole.
That means assessing the state of mental health among Spaniards, the prevalence of obesity and cardiovascular diseases, drawing conclusions about the abundance of memory loss illnesses such as Alzheimers and Dementia, foreseeing the vulnerability of Spain’s population to pandemics, finding ways to reduce the amount of smokers before they develop cancer, and so on.
In a nutshell, rather than healing pre-existing illnesses, Spain’s new State Centre for Public Health will aim to anticipate and prevent public health “threats” before they become a problem.
In the words of Spain’s Ministry of Health, this centre will enjoy "functional autonomy" and will be devoted to "the analysis and study, evaluation of policies and public interventions, the provision of technical advice, proposal of measures to health authorities and preparation and coordination of response measures to health emergency situations".
In addition, the new public health department will assess public wellbeing issues which are intrinsically tied to public health, such as family welfare, access and quality of education, social and economic inequalities, access and quality of work, the design effectiveness of local services, physical exercise habits and the quality of air, water and food in Spain.
Why now?
The Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing mental crisis it caused in Spain and the emergence of the monkeypox virus have all contributed to making Spanish health authorities aware that there was a greater need for forward planning when it comes to public health.
The creation of this State Centre for Public Health has actually been in the pipeline since 2011, when an approved law on Public Health stressed the importance of such a department, but the country and the world’s current health crises have finally forced the Spanish government to take action.
According to Ildefonso Hernández, spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS), as things stand Google knows more about Spaniards’ state of health than the country’s health ministry.
"We still need to take giant steps in terms of the immediacy and access we have to health information systems," he told Spanish broadcaster RTVE about the importance of compiling such data.
Other countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have set up public health departments in recent years with the aim of assessing the state of health of their societies as a whole.
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What’s new?
The Spanish Cabinet on Tuesday August 23rd will approve the creation of a State Centre for Public Health, or Centro Estatal de Salud Pública as it is called in Spanish.
Although the legislation will still have to be given the green light in the Spanish Parliament and Senate, €9 million has been preliminarily allocated for the formation of this new department, with its physical location yet to be determined.
What’s the purpose of this new public health centre?
The primary focus of this new centre will be to focus on, as its name suggests, Public Health.
The primary difference from what Spain’s Health Ministry already does is that it will have a preventative approach with regard to illness, aiming to improve the lifespan and wellbeing of Spanish society as a whole.
That means assessing the state of mental health among Spaniards, the prevalence of obesity and cardiovascular diseases, drawing conclusions about the abundance of memory loss illnesses such as Alzheimers and Dementia, foreseeing the vulnerability of Spain’s population to pandemics, finding ways to reduce the amount of smokers before they develop cancer, and so on.
In a nutshell, rather than healing pre-existing illnesses, Spain’s new State Centre for Public Health will aim to anticipate and prevent public health “threats” before they become a problem.
In the words of Spain’s Ministry of Health, this centre will enjoy "functional autonomy" and will be devoted to "the analysis and study, evaluation of policies and public interventions, the provision of technical advice, proposal of measures to health authorities and preparation and coordination of response measures to health emergency situations".
In addition, the new public health department will assess public wellbeing issues which are intrinsically tied to public health, such as family welfare, access and quality of education, social and economic inequalities, access and quality of work, the design effectiveness of local services, physical exercise habits and the quality of air, water and food in Spain.
Why now?
The Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing mental crisis it caused in Spain and the emergence of the monkeypox virus have all contributed to making Spanish health authorities aware that there was a greater need for forward planning when it comes to public health.
The creation of this State Centre for Public Health has actually been in the pipeline since 2011, when an approved law on Public Health stressed the importance of such a department, but the country and the world’s current health crises have finally forced the Spanish government to take action.
According to Ildefonso Hernández, spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS), as things stand Google knows more about Spaniards’ state of health than the country’s health ministry.
"We still need to take giant steps in terms of the immediacy and access we have to health information systems," he told Spanish broadcaster RTVE about the importance of compiling such data.
Other countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have set up public health departments in recent years with the aim of assessing the state of health of their societies as a whole.
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